Alexis Castle eyed the murder board, looking for something, anything to connect the murders together. She knew that it was the same murderer; he'd left behind a mark, a symbol. But what she couldn't figure out was why all the murders were so different. One was a stabbing, vicious, brutal; another was a suffocation, appearing as if he pressed a pillow down on her face while she slept; the third a single gunshot through the skull.
It was at that moment, staring at the board, lost in thought, when little hands clutched at her, causing her to look towards the source. The rosy red cheeks of her five year old twin half-brother and half-sister stared up at her, "Lexis!"
With a small laugh she swung her brother on to her lap, kissing him on the head, "Hi monkies, come to bother me at work, huh?" Her little sister climbed her way up on to Alexis's lap, so that her lap was full with her siblings. She looked up into the face of her father, smiling, his coat still on as he had just picked the kids up from their afternoon kindergarten class. "Hey dad."
"Hi sweetheart. Any progress on the case?" Her father, although not liking the fact that her life was in ever constant danger, had finally accepted the fact that she was a cop. And not just a cop, but a detective. And although he was still a bit overprotective, he supported her dreams and wishes.
"No, I'm just trying to figure out why they are so different. It's odd." She looked back at the board, and then, hearing a door open, over at the office of her step-mother, Captain Katherine Beckett Castle. "Captain." She said, addressing the women.
"Detective Castle….you know what I think?" Here at work, they addressed each other formally. Only at home was it Alexis or Kate.
Kate crossed the room, grabbing up her five year old daughter and kissing her, before setting her on the ground at her feet. Then she did the same with her son before kissing her husband on his cheek. She then turned toward the detective. Alexis looked up at her with a curious look, wondering where she was going with this, "What is it?"
"I think it reminds me of the case that had me meeting your father. The copycat murderer." She glanced over at Castle with a small smile on her face. A smile of a marriage that had lasted six years, a smile that said that the flame never had burnt out.
Alexis felt her eyebrows raise in surprise, she hadn't been expecting that, "So you think it may be a copycat?"
Before Kate could answer, Castle interrupted, a smile on his face, "You want to know what I think?" This smile told both women that he was going to interrupt with another one of his crazy theories. Kate sighed, but with a slight smile on her face.
"No, but I imagine I am going to hear it." It was as if, despite all the years and changes, all the promotions, the years never really changed a thing for Castle and Beckett.
"I think that maybe the symbol belongs to some top secret organization, and these people that were killed, they found out about the secret. And so, the organization got rid of them."
Kate shook her head on that, a little laughter escaping as she exhaled, "You keep working on that, Castle."
Before they could say anything else, little voices interrupted them, too pairs of eyes looking up at their parents, one set blue, one set green. Little hands clutched pants, begging for attention. "Mommy, I'm thirsty." Mia, the five year old twin said, her green eyes looking up towards her mothers. The funny thing about her was, although she had her mother's eyes, she looked a lot like her father in most other ways. Their son, Ashton, appeared to be a fair mix of the two, and was the quieter of the two. He was more than willing to let his sister do all the talking for him.
Castle chuckled and shook his head, knowing what they were doing. They always went to their mom when they wanted something first, but then, afterwards, if she said no, they went to him. "Oh you are now," Kate said, smiling at her children. "Well we better take care of that then, huh? I think there is some juice in the break room." She took both her children by the hands and took them towards the break room, as she listened to their tiny voices explain the day they had at kindergarten.
"You think….?" Alexis started to herself, "Maybe it is an author, or someone in the arts, that this killer is mimicking. If only I just could find out where it was coming from."
"Maybe I can help, after all, I believe I am that author that you are thinking about." Castle and Alexis looked over, the new voice filling their ears. His voice was soft, sweet, flirtatious and confident, as if he knew the charm he had on people. He was young, maybe 28 or 29. And he was also the amazingly popular author of 28 bestselling novels. His name….Landon George.